Styles in Use irritation

[darian]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I use Word for XP at work, and find the Styles in Use function very useful. This function only shows styles that the user is using in the document, so if you're only using Normal, then only Normal will show on the list.

For the life of me I can't understand why it's not the same in Word for Mac. Is it bugged? e.g. Styles in Use on Mac in my current working document shows 76 styles, of which only 10 are actually in use in the document.

Most of the 76 have never been used, ever, on this document or even this computer. I've never ever used TOC 9 - so why is it displayed in Styles in Use?

Please let me know how I can just show those styles really in use (without deleting styles from the doc) -- or fix the bug.

Thanks!

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, other than the obvious "Word for Mac & Win Word aren't identical
feature-for-feature" argument all I can offer is an explanation ...

Apparently you're referring to the Format> Style dialog, right? What happens
if you create a new blank doc & take a look? You "should" find that there
are far fewer than the list you referred to.

I believe the Styles in Use list is governed by the styles activated in the
template which was used to create the document. IOW, if the styles were used
in the template *or* if Add to Template was set for any Built-In Styles they
will travel with any doc based on that template even if not used in that
specific doc. User-Defined Styles used in the doc *or* added to the template
will also be listed. It doesn't make any difference what has/not been used
in the Word installation where the file is being opened.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[darian]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the quick response:

Apparently you're referring to the Format> Style
dialog, right? What happens
if you create a new blank doc & take a look? You
"should" find that there
are far fewer than the list you referred to.

Yes, this is what I refer to. I created a new blank doc, and it only had 4 styles in it. When I copied and pasted the old text into the new doc, then the new doc had all 76 styles as well - even though only 10 are really used.

Well, other than the obvious "Word for Mac & Win
Word aren't identical
feature-for-feature" argument all I can offer is
an explanation ...

I can easily understand that each package would have slightly different sets of functions. But I would very strongly argue that functions with the same name should operate in an identical manner.

Anyway, thanks for getting back to me on this.

Darian

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I use Word for XP at work, and find the Styles in Use function very useful. This function only shows styles that the user is using in the document, so if you're only using Normal, then only Normal will show on the list.

For the life of me I can't understand why it's not the same in Word for Mac. Is it bugged? e.g. Styles in Use on Mac in my current working document shows 76 styles, of which only 10 are actually in use in the document.

Most of the 76 have never been used, ever, on this document or even this computer. I've never ever used TOC 9 - so why is it displayed in Styles in Use?

Please let me know how I can just show those styles really in use (without deleting styles from the doc) -- or fix the bug.

Thanks!

Hi,

After reading your description, I'm wondering if the bug is on the
Windows side, not the Mac side.

The way I expect Styles in Use to work is to differentiate between three
conditions:
* Styles that are associated with the active document (Styles in Use)
* All styles from all open documents (All Styles)
* User defined styles

I consider a style to be in use even if it hasn't actually been applied
to something with a document. The document does, in fact, have the
styles listed under this category associated with the document. This
matches the Organizer feature.

If Windows Word is only showing styles that have actually been applied,
then I think there is have bug in Windows Word, or at the very least the
Windows Word programmers have mis-labeled a new feature that they
introduced. The Windows behavior should be called: Applied Styles or
something like it, so that you would know that it refers only to styles
that were actually applied, which is a subset of Styles in Use.

-Jim

 

[darian]

After reading your description, I'm wondering if

the bug is on the Windows side, not the Mac side.

AFAIK, it has always been like that in Word for Windows (and I've been using it for years). If anything, it's mislabeled in Word Mac.

"Use" doesn't mean "associated", it should only mean styles which have been applied, i.e. which are actually "in use".

The way I expect Styles in Use to work is to
differentiate between three conditions:
* Styles that are associated with the active
document (Styles in Use)
* All styles from all open documents (All Styles)
* User defined styles

Word XP actually has 5 options. "Styles in Use" in Word Mac is called "Available Formatting" in Word XP, and "Formatting in Use" is what's missing from Word Mac.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Darian:

This has been a bug on the Windows side forever!

"Styles in use" actually means "Styles listed in the style table in this
document".

Which means "Any style that is used, or ever has been used, in this
document". As you have discovered, when you paste text including the
default section break from another document, Word brings the entire style
set in from that document.

Both problems are bugs. Both have been in WinWord since Word 97. In Word
2007, things are a little better: "Styles in Use" is still useless, but in
the Task Pane the "Not currently used" flag appears if the style is not
actually applied to anything currently.

Sadly, these features did not make it into Mac Word 2008.

Cheers

AFAIK, it has always been like that in Word for Windows (and I've been using
it for years). If anything, it's mislabeled in Word Mac.

"Use" doesn't mean "associated", it should only mean styles which have been
applied, i.e. which are actually "in use".


Word XP actually has 5 options. "Styles in Use" in Word Mac is called
"Available Formatting" in Word XP, and "Formatting in Use" is what's missing
from Word Mac.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[darian]

Well, for a "bug" formatting in use in Winword is profoundly useful, especially when merging several documents into one. I really would like it in the Mac version - so if any developers are listening...

 

[Clive Huggan]

They aren't, Darian. But the Mac Business Unit will get it if you send your
comment via the Help menu. An actual human reads them and sends them on, and
they are prioritized.

Clive Huggan
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